Sometimes I’m so completely not ready for spiritual discussions with my kids because they pop out of the most random life moments. One more reason to be “in the moment” with my littles!

Today as Qade was grumbling his way through half of his Math page one of those times happened. He was supposed to be writing numbers from 170 to 200. As I sat there barely able to keep my patience with him he asked if this was how old people were when they died. I replied, kind of humored, that no it wasn’t, it was WAY too old and then explained that we never know at what age someone will die. I said sometimes babies die, sometimes children die and sometimes people live to be all the way to 100!

His next question was, “If babies die, they will go to Hell.” I was happy to tell him that God takes little babies to heaven when they die because they can’t understand that Jesus came to die for their sins.

Then things got a little serious. He began to ask questions about if children would go to Hell. I again fell back on the standby, when people do not accept Jesus then they can’t go to Heaven. He started thinking about that one, and the next questions were staggerers for me. He asked what if they haven’t ever learned about God? And why do people who don’t know about God go to Hell?

How do you explain concepts like this to these little inquiring minds? To Qade, God is a fact because we have taught him so. He’s just starting to grasp the ideas that it is a choice to believe or not believe. But yeah, what about the children who have never heard about Jesus? It’s so hard for me to explain to my son a topic which I myself have struggled over as a child, and even as an adult?

Would God really sentence people to an eternity without Him when they’d never heard?

Of course I know the answer is not at all simple, and certainly not at all something that I, who have a very fundamental grasp on it, could explain to him. I finally told him that the Bible tells us about creation and how God made the heavens and the whole earth and everything in it. And that when people look at it, they know that there is a God who created it all, and that means that they do not have an excuse for choosing to not believe in Him.

All in all, I was more than worn out by the end of Math today. So much so that I opted for school to be DONE after recess!

So many times I feel like I’m blundering through this job of parenting. Do I teach them enough about God? Am I pushing them to hard to understand? Am I not pushing them enough? Do they know how important God is in my own life? Are they memorizing enough scripture? Should I teach them more Sunday School songs? I’m plagued by questions like these, because deep deep down in my soul I know the ONLY decision that REALLY matters in my kids lives is the decision to accept and love God.

I keep praying for salvation for my littles! Especially the older 2 as they are getting to that age where things may be clicking. For Qade especially, I don’t really know how to proceed because he DOES believe. God is an established fact in his brain, and he KNOWS that Jesus came to die so that we could get to heaven. So I don’t really know how to help him beyond continuing to do my best to answer his questions. I’m glad that the “work” actually belongs to the Holy Spirit, because I know that He isn’t bungling it like me. 🙂

One Response to “Math Moments”

Hang in there, Rachel! You are doing a great job. The enemy would love to put doubt and questions in your spirit .. just keep on living in the moments and answering questions as they come .. that’s God at work in you and your home! Awesome teachable moments — best part of homeschooling, in my opinion.